Job 10-11

Holman Christian Standard Bible

10 I am disgusted with my life.^(A)
I will express my complaint
and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
² I will say to God:
“Do not declare me guilty!
Let me know why You prosecute me.
³ Is it good for You to oppress,
to reject the work of Your hands,
and favor^[a] the plans of the wicked?
⁴ Do You have eyes of flesh,
or do You see as a human sees?
⁵ Are Your days like those of a human,
or Your years like those of a man,^(B)
6 that You look for my wrongdoing^(C)
and search for my sin,
⁷ even though You know that I am not wicked
and that there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?

⁸ “Your hands shaped me and formed me.
Will You now turn and destroy me?
⁹ Please remember that You formed me like clay.
Will You now return me to dust?^(D)
10 Did You not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
¹¹ You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and wove me together with bones and tendons.
¹² You gave me life and faithful love,
and Your care has guarded my life.

¹³ “Yet You concealed these thoughts in Your heart;
I know that this was Your hidden plan:^[b]
14 if I sin, You would notice,^[c]
and would not acquit me of my wrongdoing.^(E)
15 If I am wicked, woe to me!
And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head.
I am filled with shame
and aware of my affliction.^(F)
16 If I am proud,^[d] You hunt me like a lion
and again display Your miraculous power against me.^(G)
17 You produce new witnesses^[e] against me
and multiply Your anger toward me.
Hardships assault me, wave after wave.^[f]

¹⁸ “Why did You bring me out of the womb?^(H)
I should have died and never been seen.
¹⁹ I wish^[g] I had never existed
but had been carried from the womb to the grave.^(I)
20 Are my days not few? Stop it!^[h]
Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little
²¹ before I go to a land of darkness and gloom,^(J)
never to return.
²² It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness,
gloomy and chaotic,
where even the light is like^[i] the darkness.”

² Should this stream of words^(K) go unanswered
and such a talker^[j] be acquitted?
³ Should your babbling put others to silence,
so that you can keep on ridiculing
with no one to humiliate you?
⁴ You have said, “My teaching^(L) is sound,
and I am pure in Your sight.”
⁵ But if only God would speak
and declare His case^[k] against you,
⁶ He would show you the secrets of wisdom,^(M)
for true wisdom has two sides.
Know then that God has chosen to overlook some of your sin.^(N)

⁷ Can you fathom the depths of God
or discover the limits of the Almighty?^(O)
8 They are higher than the heavens—what can you do?
They are deeper than Sheol—what can you know?^(P)
9 Their measure is longer than the earth
and wider than the sea.

¹⁰ If He passes by and throws someone in prison
or convenes a court, who can stop Him?^(Q)
11 Surely He knows which people are worthless.
If He sees iniquity, will He not take note of it?^(R)
12 But a stupid man will gain understanding
as soon as a wild donkey is born a man!

¹³ As for you, if you redirect your heart
and lift up your hands to Him in prayer—
¹⁴ if there is iniquity in your hand, remove it,
and don’t allow injustice to dwell in your tents—
¹⁵ then you will hold your head high, free from fault.
You will be firmly established and unafraid.^(S)
16 For you will forget your suffering,
recalling it only as waters that have flowed by.
¹⁷ Your life will be brighter than noonday;
its darkness^[l] will be like the morning.^(T)
18 You will be confident, because there is hope.^(U)
You will look carefully about and lie down in safety.^(V)

¹⁹ You will lie down without fear,
and many will seek your favor.^(W)
20 But the sight of the wicked^(X) will fail.
Their way of escape will be cut off,
and their only hope is their last breath.^(Y)